Avocado Hummus

The instant I saw this recipe over at A Cozy Kitchen, I knew I was going to have to make it. The next time I was at the grocery store, I grabbed the ingredients that I didn’t already have on hand (avocados and a lemon), and made it the very next day. I love avocados so very, very much, and I knew that since this included chickpeas, it was pretty much health food.

The ingredients:

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A can of garbanzo beans, lemon, tahini (which has literally been sitting, unopened, in my pantry for like two years now. There’s no date on the can, so I’m assuming it doesn’t go bad), garlic, 2 avocados, salt, olive oil, paprika.

First, I had to zest and juice the lemon. I used this little zester thing I got for free from some site or another (they were having one of those “grab bag” deals where you buy a bag of crap for like $5, and you never know what you’re going to get). I like that it has the thing attached so that the zest doesn’t go everywhere. To juice it, I used my lemon juicer thingy. I could have squeezed it by hand, but I am a delicate flower and don’t have a Shirley to do my bidding (hee), so I use the juicer.

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Tahini’s all “Bitch, hurry UP.”

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Yeah, right. Note that the zest didn’t go all over the place. Riiiight. I’m such a slob.

Throw everything but the avocados and salt in a food processor, and give it a whirl ’til it’s smooth. Add salt to taste – and let me tell you here that while you might be tempted to leave the salt out in a misguided attempt to keep your blood pressure low (or whatever health benefit it is that skipping salt gives you; I’m murky on the details, because my doctor’s never told me to watch my salt intake, so I don’t. SO THERE.), if you leave out the salt you’re going to end up with something bland. Add the salt to bring out the flavor, is what you want to do, but don’t go heavy on it.

Does everyone know how to peel an avocado? I’m going to assume not everyone does, because I am late to the love of avocado, and I had a hell of a time the first few times I did it, and I made a big mess and so I’m here to help you out. Because it is so simple and there’s no reason you should be standing in your kitchen swearing at a poor, innocent avocado. Avocados are delicate, and profanities hurt their feelings.

Step one, cut through the avocado skin and flesh until you hit resistance (that would be the pit, in the center). Then cut all the way around.

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You can’t see it in this picture, but there’s a cut all the way around the circumference of the avocado.

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You might need to twist it a little, but the avocado should come apart easily.

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Now here’s how I do it, but this is the wrong way, because if you’re a klutz the tip of the knife will slip and you’ll end up stabbing yourself in the guts, and you KNOW your stupid face is going to be all over those Morons in the News stories. “Alabama housewife eviscerates herself while trying to peel an avocado! She was swarmed by cranky cats. When the cats were done, there was nothing left but an eyeball and her left foot!”

(Completely and totally off topic, you know that movie My Left Foot? I SWEAR to you that Fred thought for many years that it was called My Two Left Feet. He argued HEATEDLY with me that I had the title wrong. That still makes me laugh every single time I think about it.)

ANYway, this is how I do it, I stab the pit with the tip of my knife. What YOU should do is point the knife away from your midsection and smack the sharp edge of the knife down on the pit so that it sticks in the pit.

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Then kind of twist the knife away from the avocado, bringing the pit with it.

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Then you can pull the pit off with your hand, or you can just clunk the knife on the edge of the trash can, causing the pit to fly off.

The skin pulls off really easily.

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And that is how you end up with two naked avocado halves.

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Which you then toss into the food processor, and give it another whirl ’til it’s smooth. Add some salt to taste. I didn’t take any pictures of this part of the preparation, because I’m a slacker. Or I was too busy patting myself on the back for not stabbing myself in the stomach. THIS time.

Transfer the hummus to a bowl, drizzle a bit of olive oil on top, and sprinkle with paprika. Serve with whatever you prefer – we ate ours with pita chips, but I think tortilla chips would have been even better.

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YUM.

 

Avocado Hummus
 
Prep time
Total time
 
: snack, appetiser
Serves: 73
Ingredients
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 15-ounce can of garbanzo beans
  • 1 lemon (zested and juiced)
  • 2 T tahini
  • 2 avocados
  • salt
  • olive oil
  • paprika
Instructions
  1. Place garlic cloves, garbanzo beans, lemon zest, lemon juice, and tahini in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Salt to taste.
  2. Add two avocados (which have been peeled and depitted) and add just until smooth. Salt to taste once more. Transfer to a bowl, drizzle some olive oil on top, and sprinkle with a bit of paprika. Serve with whatever you prefer - tortilla chips, pita chips, crackers, etc.

 


Comments

Avocado Hummus — 14 Comments

  1. I love hummus (usually eaten with Ritz crackers or tortillas for me) but this looks fantastic.

    I’ve never been big on avocado, but I’m seriously on board with this recipe.

  2. Oh holy cow, that looks so good. I love avocado so much, and hummus. I have never peeled an avocado, though, I just cut it in half and then either use a spoon to get it out, if you score it with a knife first, it will come out in nice little squares, or just squeeze it out over the bowl if I’m going to mash it. And yeah, don’t skip the salt with hummus. Also, it makes more work, but we sometimes go through times when we eat a lot of hummus, so I started cooking chick peas in my crock pot to avoid all the sodium in canned. Very easy, really, just takes a little advance knowledge that you’ll be using them. But what’s really REALLY good, is to make the hummus with warm chick peas, right out of the crock pot. Heaven.

    • That does sound good! I mostly ended up making this because I had ten zillion cans of chickpeas in the pantry, but I can see the allure of making them in the crock pot, for sure. 🙂

  3. Hi Robyn, A few points:

    * Tahini does last a long time, which is probably why it was developed in pre-refrigeration days. Still, put the damned thing in the fridge now that you opened it!

    * Stuff flying everywhere is a sign of a good cook!

    * People with salt-reactive high blood pressure need to avoid salt. That condition effects ~25% of the general population, but is higher in African-Americans.

    * Also, you doing the avocado thing right. I just wanted to add to NEVER hold the avocado in one hand and stab the pit. Wanna see my scar?

    * Nope, sorry, your cats would probably eat your eyeballs first!

    * Yum, indeed!

    Sadly, I’m allergic to avocado, so focused on the non-avocado aspects of this recipe. Still, I enjoy your writing very much!

  4. Oh.Dear.Lord. Avocado hummus… might as well say hello to the fat pants right now. I actually have every stinking ingredient in the house right now and was wondering what to feed the children who just came home from their last day of school. I don’t care if they don’t like avocado or chickpeas. They are intruding upon my space during my (normally) quiet lunchtime. Perhaps the avocado will give me strength to deal with the next three months. Oh, and a drink. When is the bartending section of the blog coming out? 😉

    • Shhhh, it’s a GOOD fat. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it! 😀

      We might need a guest to run the alcohol section of the blog. I don’t drink much, and Nance doesn’t drink more than I do, I don’t think!

      • HA… I don’t really drink either, which is how you know I’m SERIOUS about getting my space invaded for the summer 😉

  5. This looks delicious – I too love the avocados and eat one nearly every day (usually in my salad), so this could be a nice change. If you need me to test your alcohol recipes, I am happy to oblige.

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